Pinechas, Pinchas, Pinhas, or Pin'has ( "Phinehas": a name, the sixth word and the first distinctive word in the parashah) is the 41st weekly Torah portion (, ) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the eighth in the Book of Numbers. It tells of Phinehas's killing of a couple, ending a plague, and of the daughters of Zelophehad's successful plea for land rights. It constitutes Numbers 25:10–30:1. The parashah is made up of 7,853 Hebrew letters, 1887 Hebrew words, 168 verses, and 280 lines in a Torah scroll.
Jews generally read it in July or rarely in late June or early August. As the parashah sets out laws for the Jewish holidays, Jews also read parts of the parashah as Torah readings for many Jewish holidays. Numbers 28:1–15 is the Torah reading for the New Moon (, ) on a weekday (including when the sixth or seventh day of Hanukkah falls on Rosh Chodesh). Numbers 28:9–15 is the maftir Torah reading for Shabbat Rosh Chodesh. Numbers 28:16–25 is the maftir Torah reading for the first two days of Passover. Numbers 28:19–25 is the maftir Torah reading for the intermediate days (, ) and seventh and eighth days of Passover. Numbers 28:26–31 is the maftir Torah reading for each day of Shavuot. Numbers 29:1–6 is the maftir Torah reading for each day of Rosh Hashanah. Numbers 29:7–11 is the maftir Torah reading for the Yom Kippur morning (, ) service. Numbers 29:12–16 is the maftir Torah reading for the first two days of Sukkot. Numbers 29:17–25 is the Torah reading for the first intermediate day of Sukkot. Numbers 29:20–28 is the Torah reading for the second intermediate day of Sukkot. Numbers 29:23–31 is the Torah reading for the third intermediate day of Sukkot. Numbers 29:26–34 is the Torah reading for the fourth intermediate day of Sukkot as well as for Hoshana Rabbah. Numbers 29:35–30:1 is the maftir Torah reading for both Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.
Readings
In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bamidbar/Numbers (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2007), pages 177–205.
First reading—Numbers 25:10–26:4
In the first reading, God announced that because Phinehas had displayed his passion for God, God granted him a pact of friendship and priesthood for all time.. (In a Torah scroll, the letter in the verse "Behold, I give him My covenant of peace," is split.) God then told Moses to attack the Midianites to repay them for their trickery luring Israelite men to worship Baal Peor..
Second reading—Numbers 26:5–51 +Population Change Between the Two Censuses Tribe Numbers 1 Numbers 26 Change % Change Manasseh 32,200 52,700 +20,500 +63.7 Benjamin 35,400 45,600 +10,200 +28.8 Asher 41,500 53,400 +11,900 +28.7 Issachar 54,400 64,300 +9,900 +18.2 Zebulun 57,400 60,500 +3,100 +5.4 Dan 62,700 64,400 +1,700 +2.7 Judah 74,600 76,500 +1,900 +2.5 Reuben 46,500 43,730 −2,770 −6.0 Gad 45,650 40,500 −5,150 −11.3 Naphtali 53,400 45,400 −8,000 −15.0 Ephraim 40,500 32,500 −8,000 −19.8 Simeon 59,300 22,200 −37,100 −62.6 Totals 603,550 601,730 -1,820 -0.3 God instructed Moses and Eleazar to take a census of Israelite men 20 years old and up..
In the second reading, the census showed the following populations by tribe:
Reuben: 43,730 Simeon: 22,200 Gad: 40,500 Judah: 76,500 Issachar: 64,300 Zebulun: 60,500 Manasseh: 52,700 Ephraim: 32,500 Benjamin: 45,600 Dan: 64,400 Asher: 53,400 Naphtali: 45,400 The total (excluding the tribe of Levi) was 601,730. (slightly lower than the total in the first census,. but with significant differences among the tribes).
The text notes in passing that when Korah's band agitated against God, the earth swallowed up Dathan and Abiram with Korah, but Korah's sons did not die..
Third reading—Numbers 26:52–27:5 In the third reading, God told Moses to apportion shares of the land according to population among those counted, and by lot.. The Levite men aged a month old and up amounted to 23,000, and they were not included in the regular enrollment of Israelites, as they were not to have land assigned to them.. Among the persons whom Moses and Eleazar enrolled was not one of those enrolled in the first census at the wilderness of Sinai, except Caleb and Joshua.. The daughters of Zelophehad approached Moses, Eleazar, the chieftains, and the assembly at the entrance of the Tabernacle, saying that their father left no sons, and asking that they be given a land holding.. Moses brought their case before God..
Fourth reading—Numbers 27:6–23 In the fourth reading, God told Moses that the daughters' plea was just and instructed Moses to transfer their father's share of land to them.. God further instructed that if a man died without leaving a son, the Israelites were to transfer his property to his daughter, or failing a daughter to his brothers, or failing a brother to his father's brothers, or failing brothers of his father, to the nearest relative.. God told Moses to climb the heights of Abarim and view the Land of Israel, saying that when he had seen it, he would die, because he disobeyed God's command to uphold God's sanctity in the people's sight when he brought water from the rock in the wilderness of Zin.. Moses asked God to appoint someone over the community, so that the Israelites would not be like sheep without a shepherd.. God told Moses to single out Joshua, lay his hand on him, and commission him before Eleazar and the whole community.. Joshua was to present himself to Eleazar the priest, who was to seek the decision of the Urim and Thummim on whether to go out or come in..
Fifth reading—Numbers 28:1–15 In the fifth reading, God told Moses to command the Israelites to be punctilious in presenting the offerings due God at stated times.. The text then details the offerings for the Sabbath and Rosh Chodesh..
Sixth reading—Numbers 28:16–29:11 The sixth reading details the offerings for Passover, Shavuot, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur..
Seventh reading—Numbers 29:12–30:1 The seventh reading details the offerings for Sukkot and Shmini Atzeret. At the end of the reading, Moses concluded his teachings to the whole community about the offerings.; .
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: The Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418. Year 1Year 2Year 32023, 2026, 2029 . . .2024, 2027, 2030 . . .2025, 2028, 2031 . . .Reading25:10–26:5126:52–28:1528:16–30:1125:10–1226:52–5628:16–25225:13–1526:57–6228:26–31325:16–26:426:63–27:529:1–6426:5–1127:6–1429:7–11526:12–2227:15–2329:12–16626:23–3428:1–1029:17–28726:35–5128:11–1529:29–30:1Maftir26:48–5128:11–1529:35–30:1
In inner-Biblical interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:For more on inner-Biblical interpretation, see, e.g., Benjamin D. Sommer, "Inner-biblical Interpretation," in Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors, The Jewish Study Bible, 2nd edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pages 1835–41.
Numbers chapter 25 Tikva Frymer-Kensky called the Bible's six memories of the Baal-Peor incident in Numbers 25:1–13 and 31:15–16, Deuteronomy 4:3–4, Joshua 22:16–18, Ezekiel 20:21–26, and Psalm 106:28–31 a testimony to its traumatic nature and to its prominence in Israel's memory.Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible (New York: Schocken Books, 2002), page 215.
In the retelling of Deuteronomy 4:3–4, God destroyed all the men who followed the Baal of Peor, but kept alive to the day of Moses's address everyone who cleaved to God. Frymer-Kensky concluded that Deuteronomy stresses the moral lesson: Very simply, the guilty perished, and those who were alive to hear Moses were innocent survivors who could avoid destruction by staying fast to God.
In Joshua 22:16–18, Phinehas and ten princes of Israelite Tribes questioned the Reubenites', Gadites', and Manassites' later building an altar across the Jordan, recalling that the Israelites had not cleansed themselves to that day of the iniquity of Peor, even though a plague had come upon the congregation at the time. Frymer-Kensky noted that the book of Joshua emphasizes the collective nature of sin and punishment, that the transgression of the Israelites at Peor still hung over them, and that any sin of the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites would bring down punishment on all Israel.
In Ezekiel 20:21–26, God recalled Israel's rebellion and God's resolve to pour out God's fury on them in the wilderness. God held back then for the sake of God's Name but swore that God would scatter them among the nations, because they looked with longing at idols. Frymer-Kensky called Ezekiel's memory the most catastrophic: Because the Israelites rebelled in the Baal-Peor incident, God vowed that they would ultimately lose the Land that they had not yet even entered. Even after the exile to Babylon, the incident loomed large in Israel's memory.Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reading the Women of the Bible, page 216.
Psalm 106:28–31 reports that the Israelites attached themselves to Baal Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead, provoking God's anger and a plague. Psalm 106:30–31 reports that Phinehas stepped forward and intervened, the plague ceased, and it was reckoned to his merit forever. Frymer-Kensky noted that the Psalm 106:28–31, like Numbers 25:1–13, includes a savior, a salvation, and an explanation of the monopoly of the priesthood by the descendants of Phineas. Michael Fishbane wrote that in retelling the story, the Psalmist notably omitted the explicit account of Phinehas's violent lancing of the offenders and substituted an account of the deed that could be read as nonviolent.Michael Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), pages 397–99.
Numbers chapter 26 In Numbers 26:2, God directed Moses and Eleazer to "take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from 20 years old and upward, . . . all that are able to go forth to war in Israel." That census yielded 43,730 men for Reuben,. 40,500 men for Gad,. and 52,700 men for Manasseh.—for a total of 136,930 adult men "able to go forth to war" from the three tribes. But Joshua 4:12–13 reports that "about 40,000 ready armed for war passed on in the presence of the Lord to battle" from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh—or fewer than 3 in 10 of those counted in Numbers 26. Chida explained that only the strongest participated, as Joshua asked in Joshua 1:14 for only "the mighty men of valor." Kli Yakar suggested that more than 100,000 men crossed over the Jordan to help, but when they saw the miracles at the Jordan, many concluded that God would ensure the Israelites' success and they were not needed.See Reuven Drucker, Yehoshua: The Book of Joshua: A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic Sources (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2000), page 153.
Numbers chapter 27 The story of the daughters of Zelophehad in Numbers 27 has a sequel in Numbers 36, and then Joshua 17:3–6 reports the awarding of lands to the daughters of Zelophehad.